Psychology: Tests & Measures

Core Resources for Tests & Measures

It can be challenging to find the full text of tests, instruments, and measures, and includes some confusing terminology. Many well-known tests are commercial property and must be purchased; these commercially available tests are described as "published" tests. "Unpublished" tests are simply tests not sold commercially, but rather available via research articles, handbooks or other means.

There are a number of ways to search for a test, including the author name, keywords, test name, or test construct. (A construct is the concept the test is measuring, such as Confidence or Anxiety.)

PsycTESTS also includes limits, or controlled lists of values, that can be set before you run the search, toward the bottom of the advanced search page, or after you run the search, along the side of the search results page. Examples of these limits include:

Administration Method – how the test is given to participants, such as Paper or Interview.

Instrument Type – the primary testing category of the instrument, such as Checklist or Task.

Created by the APA, this handout will get you started searching the PsycTESTS database.

Tests in Handbooks

PSU Library has a number of books of tests and measures (psychological, social, and educational) that you can check out or access online. Researchers might administer the measures directly or use as examples in creating their own test. A few titles are below; more can be found by searching the Library Catalog using the keyword "measures".